Introduction

As the result of both powers seeking to expand their
empires into Manchuria and Korea, Japan opened hostilities with a surprise
attack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur (now in modern China)
on 8th February 1904 in which two battleships and a cruiser were sunk.
In August an attempted breakout by the Russians resulted in a second
defeat at the Battle of the Yellow Sea. The surviving Russian ships
were now either contained in Port Arthur, Vladivostock or friendly ports
to which they had fled.

In reply to the resounding defeat of the Russian
Far Eastern Fleet, the Tsar
Nicholas II authorised an unbelievable proposal from his government.
Forty-five ships from the Russian Baltic Fleet would sail 18,000 miles
around the world from its bases in northern Europe, defeat the Japanese
navy and relieve Port Arthur thus bringing about a swift end to the war
as Japan relied on her navy to support her land forces.

The epic journey that followed would be highly
comic were it not for the fact that 4,000 Russian naval personnel died
as a result. From the outset, the expedition was doomed to failure yet
no one sought to question the folly of the plan.

Russian Naval Power?

In 1904, Russia was a backward country. In
terms of geographical area it was the largest nation in the world, and
the Tsar ruled over an empire which spanned eastern Europe and Asia incorporating
many different races. On paper, Russia was a major military power - in
reality her armies were poorly equipped and trained and as a naval power
she was third rate despite expanding the size of her navy to rival that
of other European powers. Russian power was certainly over estimated by
other countries.

Because of its geography, Russian naval activity
was split between three operational areas - the Far East, the Baltic and
the Black Sea. Russian naval operations in the Black Sea were restricted
under several international treaties which hindered the development of
Russian naval ambitions. This theatre was the only area in which Russia
could hope to secure ports in warm water with access to the seas throughout
the year but the numbers and size of ships which Russia could station
in the area was limited, together with their operational activities. Consequently
any ships needed to reinforce the Far Eastern fleet had to be transferred
from the Baltic on the other side of the world.

The Baltic fleet's task of completing an 18,000
mile voyage, presented a considerable logistical problem as the fleet
would need to re-supply and refuel en route. Unlike the Royal Navy, the
Russians had no bases around the globe and international treaties prevented
them from using the ports of other friendly foreign powers such as France.
Hence a plan to re-supply the fleet was devised - freighters chartered
from the German Hamburg-Amerika line would refuel the ships at sea.

Potentially, the Baltic fleet was a large and
powerful force. In 1904, the leading naval powers were Britain, France
and Germany. The United States had entered into a period of significant
naval expansion following years in which its fleet had been a predominantly
coastal protection force. Italy had a small but technically advanced fleet
and Italian naval architects and designers were held in high regard. The
emerging naval power of the time was Japan whose highly disciplined navy
and officer corps had been trained by the British. In contrast the Russian
navy faced several problems.

Prior to the launch of "HMS
Dreadnought", which lead to standardised design for battleships
, many ships of the day were a bizarre mixture of different experiments
in naval architecture, which were mostly untried in combat conditions.
This often resulted in ships being top heavy as the latest innovations
were added to the superstructure causing vessels to become unstable. The
French navy was the most significant victim of this period of experimentation
and had lost several ships which had keeled over and sank due to design
faults.

The Baltic fleet suffered similar problems
with some of its battleships being as much as 1,500 tons overweight. In
practice this meant that the secondary armament was often underwash and
could not be fired. The belt armour was also below the waterline and therefore
offered no protection against enemy shells. An example of the hazards
posed by these design flaws can be seen in one of the fleet's battleships
"Oroyol"
which sank while anchored in Kronstadt harbour and had to be re-floated.

Russian Manpower

As if the problems with logistics and ship
design were not enough, Admiral Rozhestvensky - the unfortunate soul in
charge of the expedition - had a third source of problems - the quality
of his crews.

The majority of Russian naval ratings were
uneducated peasants and did not come from the coastal areas of Russia,
consequently they lacked any experience of the sea. The Baltic Fleet spent
long periods of the year inactive as Russia's northern harbours were iced
up for months at a time. This resulted in limited time being available
for training crews in the intricacies of modern naval warfare.

The state of affairs was so bad that one officer
on the battleship "Kniaz
Suvoroff" said of his gunnery crews that "One half have
to be taught everything because they know nothing; the other half because
they have forgotten everything; but if they do remember anything then
it is obsolete". To compound the problem it would later emerge that
some of the ratings were members of various revolutionary groups who tried
to stir up unrest among the crews.

In addition, Rozhestvensky was also dissatisfied
with his senior officers. He referred to his obese second-in-command Rear-Admiral
Folkersham as "a manure sack" and described the cruiser commander
Rear-Admiral Enkvist as "a vast empty space".

The Voyage Begins

These difficulties notwithstanding, on 16th
October 1904, the fleet (now renamed the Second Pacific Squadron) set
sail from Libau, in modern Latvia, on its epic voyage. The tone for the
expedition was set as the flagship ran aground and one of the escorting
cruisers lost its anchor chain. While the fleet waited for the flagship
to re-float and the cruiser to retrieve its misplaced anchor, a destroyer
accidentally rammed the battleship "Oslyaba"
and had to return to Reval (Tallinn in modern Estonia) for repairs.

Approaching Denmark

Having overcome these initial problems, the
fleet sailed through the narrow waters between Sweden and Denmark. A note
of hysteria set in as reports reached the fleet that Japanese torpedo
boats were stationed off the Danish coast. The question of how a Japanese
torpedo boat squadron (which had a limited range) had managed to travel
18,000 miles in so short a time was never asked.

These rumours were further fuelled with talk
of the Japanese having mined the seas and Japanese submarines being seen.
This invoked a further outbreak of mass hysteria amongst the fleet. To
quell this, Rozhestvensky then issued an order that "no vessel of
any sort must be allowed to get in amongst the fleet".

When two fishermen delivering consular dispatches
from the Tsar approached the fleet, the Russians opened fire. Ironically,
the two men, who were thankfully unharmed due to the appalling standards
of Russian gunnery, had a personal message for Rozhestvensky from Tsar
Nicholas informing him that he had now been promoted to Vice-Admiral.

For good measure the fleet repair ship "Kamchatka"
signaled that she was under attack by torpedo boats. When asked how many
she replied "about eight from all directions". This was a false
alarm. The antics of the captain and crew of the "Kamchatka"
would be the cause of several incidents of an increasingly farcical nature
later in the expedition.

The 'Battle' of Dogger Bank

Having survived attacks from phantom Japanese
torpedo boats and submarines and having negotiated a non-existent minefield,
the squadron sailed into the North Sea where the Russians spotted the
Hull trawler fleet fishing on the Dogger Bank. The Russians identified
the innocent trawlers as being yet more Japanese torpedo boats and opened
fire - an incident which almost caused war between Russia and Britain.

In the ensuing pandemonium several Russian
ships signaled that torpedoes had hit them. On the battleship "Borodino",
some of the crew donned life belts and lay prone on the deck while others
charged around wielding cutlasses shouting that the ship was being boarded
by the Japanese and thus panicked the fleet even more.

The Russian battleships continued firing, damaging
four British trawlers and sinking one. For good measure they also managed
to hit two of their own cruisers the "Avrora"
and the "Donskoy"
which had been subject to a bombardment from seven Russian battleships
sailing in line-ahead formation !

The following morning revealed a night of madness
caused by mass hysteria amongst the Russians. Fortunately for the British
trawlers (and the two Russian cruisers) Russian gunnery was so bad that
damage had been kept to a minimum. For example, the battleship "Oroyol"
had fired over 500 shells without hitting a thing.

The Russian government was quick to apologise
but British public opinion and the media demanded war against Russia.
Twenty-eight British battleships from the Home Fleet were ordered to raise
steam and prepare for action while British cruiser squadrons shadowed
the Russian fleet as it crossed the Bay of Biscay and sailed down the
Portuguese coast.

Nearing Vigo, Rozhestvensky was ordered to
dock and leave behind the officers who had been responsible for attacking
the British trawlers. Rozhestvensky used the diplomatic furore as an excuse
to rid himself of a Captain Klado one of his most bitter critics.

Klado was ordered to return to St. Petersburg
to organise reinforcements for the fleet. Klado would use this as an opportunity
for revenge on Rozhestvensky by rounding up old, obsolete vessels which
the Admiral had condemned as "old tubs" and jokingly referred
to as the "sink-by-themselves" squadron.

The Fleet Reaches Africa

The main fleet then approached Tangier having
lost contact with the "Kamchatka" for some days. The "Kamchatka"
eventually rejoined the fleet reporting that she had fired 300 shells
in an engagement with three Japanese ships - the enemy vessels were actually
a Swedish merchantman, a German trawler and a French schooner. For good
measure as the fleet left Tangier one ship managed to cut the city's underwater
telegraph cable with her anchor which prevented communication with Europe
for four days.

The next phase in the operation was to rendezvous
with ten of the German supply ships off Dakar in Western Africa. Having
made contact, the fleet then proceeded to take on double loads of coal.
These extra loads had to be stored on the decks, which caused coal dust
to spread throughout the ships. The coal dust, combined with the humid
equatorial atmosphere, resulted in the death of some of the seamen who
suffered severe respiratory problems from breathing in the filthy black
air, which congested their lungs.

Having been quiet for some days, the "Kamchatka"
sent a new wave of panic throughout the fleet when she sent the wrong
signal during a storm off the coast of Angola. Instead of issuing the
code "We are all right now" the message "Do you see torpedo
boats" was signaled.

As the fleet neared Cape Town, Rozhestvensky
received a signal that Klado was sending the reinforcements to join him.
The Admiral knowing the quality of the ships decided to avoid a rendezvous
with them. Morale amongst the fleet reached an all time low as many of
the sailors became convinced that they were sailing to certain destruction.

To lift their spirits, the crews collected
exotic pets on shore visits - including a crocodile and a poisonous snake
that caused a panic on one battleship when it wrapped itself around the
guns and then bit the commanding officer. The fleet turned into a floating
zoo as a bizarre menagerie of birds and animals was left free to roam
the decks. Events took a more severe downturn when the cooling plant on
the "Esperance", the fleet's refrigerated supply ship, broke
down. A lot of rotting meat had to be jettisoned which resulted in the
fleet being followed by sharks.

To Madagascar and the Indian Ocean

At Madagascar, events took a turn for the worse.
For two weeks, Admiral Rozhestvensky was severely ill and remained confined
in his cabin. His Chief of Staff suffered a brain haemorrhage and was
partially paralysed. No one was really in command of the fleet and the
crews spent increasing amounts of time ashore at various saloons, brothels
and gambling houses. Disease broke out with daily deaths from malaria,
dysentery and typhoid. During the funeral for one of her dead, the "Kamchatka"
fired a salute. Unfortunately a live shell was used which hit the cruiser
"Aurora" which was by now becoming used to being a mobile target
for Russian gunnery.

Mental illness from the long period at sea
began to take a toll on the crews as religious fervour broke out. The
worst cases together with a group of mutineers and revolutionaries from
the "Admiral
Nakhimov" were sent back to Russia on the supply ship "Malay".
Many officers were frequently drunk or drugged. One officer had bought
2,000 cigarettes in Madagascar, which were found to be filled with opium.

The fleet also needed to be re-supplied with
ammunition having fired most of its shells in the "battle" with
the British trawlers. Spirits lifted when the supply ship "Irtysh"
arrived. The "Irtysh" was expected to be carrying ammunition
for the fleet. When the cargo was unloaded it was found to comprise 12,000
pairs of fur-lined boots and a matching number of winter coats - ideally
suited to equatorial Africa where the fleet was now stationed!

To try and restore some semblance of order
and battle readiness, Rozhestvensky ordered gunnery practice. None of
the destroyers scored any hits on a stationary target. Of the battleships,
the flagship scored a single hit which was on the ship towing the target.
A destroyer squadron ordered to sail in line abreast formation scattered
during exercises, as the officers had not been issued with new code books.
Seven torpedoes were fired - one of which jammed, three swung off target,
two chugged slowly and missed the target altogether and one went round
in a circle causing ships to scatter in panic. For good measure the "Kamchatka"
sent a signal saying she was sinking - on investigation this turned out
to be nothing more than a cracked steam pipe in the engine room.

In the meantime, the reinforcements now named
the Third Pacific Squadron, set sail from Reval (Tallinn) under the command
of the elderly Admiral Nebogatoff. The Admiralty ordered him to rendezvous
with the main fleet "You are to join up with Rozhestvensky, whose
route is unknown to us". Rozhestvensky had no intention of joining
up with what he had described as an "archaeological collection of
naval architecture" and it must have appeared to him that he was
being pursued around the globe by a fleet of ghost ships. To add to his
problems, Rozhestvensky read in a newspaper that the Admiralty in St.
Petersburg had ordered him to destroy the Japanese fleet, sail to Vladivostock
and there hand over command to Admiral Biriloff who was traveling to the
port by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Appointment With Destiny

The fleet then crossed the Indian Ocean where
it was met by a transport ship "Gortchakoff". Spirits lifted
in the hope that the ship had some long overdue mail from home. In fact
the only mail the ship was carrying was the letters the crews had sent
home from Madagascar one month before.

On 11th May 1905, the Third Pacific Squadron
, having made good progress for a collection of old tubs, joined the main
fleet off the coast of Indo-China. The new arrivals bought news from home
of unrest, mutiny and revolution.

The fleet now headed for Vladivostock, but
was engaged by the Japanese at the battle of Tsushima during 27th-29th
May 1905. The outcome was a one-sided victory for the Japanese who sunk
eight Russian battleships, nine cruisers and several other ships resulting
in the deaths of 4,000 Russian sailors, 3 admirals and 7,300 captured.
In contrast Japanese losses amounted to 3 torpedo boats, 116 killed and
530 wounded Those Russian ships which survived managed to escape to Vladivostock
and Port Arthur where they remained blockaded until the end of the war
or the nearest neutral port.

Conclusion

The decision to send the Baltic fleet around
the world to its destruction must rank as one of the gravest in the long
line of naval follies. Diplomatically, the victory at the battle of Tsushima
was a major boost to Japan, which became the first eastern nation to defeat
a European power.

Russia was beaten militarily and Japan was
financially exhausted by the war so both powers agreed to negotiation
with talks mediated by Theodore Roosevelt the President of the United
States. The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth signed on 5th September 1905
saw Russia surrender its leases to the important naval bases of Liaoyang
and Port Arthur. Russia evacuated the southern half of Sakhalin and Manchuria
and recognised Korea as a Japanese sphere of influence. Two months after
the treaty was signed, the 1905 revolution rocked Russia, which enabled
Japan to make Korea a protectorate before formally annexing it in 1910.

As for Admiral Rozhestvensky, he didn't follow
a naval tradition and go down with his ship but survived the war only
to commit suicide.

Hullwebs would like to express their appreciation
to Kevin Lee
for allowing the puplication of his extensive research on
these pages.